Activated, p.1
Activated, page 1
PRAISE FOR ACTIVATED
“Jo Rivers is back and better than ever in ACTIVATED, the third installment of the Calculated series. With its stunning, cinematic descriptions, high-stakes action, intricately-woven plot, and a heart-racing, soul-penetrating love story for the ages, this book exceeds every expectation of the thriller genre. This is the best series in YA right now. Don’t miss out.” — Chelsea Bobulski Author of THE ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS series
“It is the rare story that has me gripping the edge of my seat while contemplating the meaning of life. Brilliantly inventive, Activated, the third book in the Calculated series, will break your heart and put it back together; captivate your imagination and set it free as Jo Rivers faces her greatest challenges yet. An epic continuation to this genre-defying series!” — Lorie Langdon, Author of the Disney Villain Happily Never After Series and Olivia Twist
"Just when you think this series can’t get any better, Activated soars to new heights in the snowy landscape of Finland's Arctic, where the setting is as dangerous as the stakes. McBee artfully elevates action, adventure, and romance while delivering all the elements we loved from Calculated and Simulated—readers will be enthralled.” — Tamara Girardi, Author of Gridiron Girl, and the Iron Valley High series
“From the stars to the snow, Activated is an electrifying follow-up in the Calculated series that will stay with you for years. Raw and suspenseful, Jo River’s story reaches a crescendo that will delight readers. With a witty cast, impossible odds, and heart-wrenching decisions at every turn, Activated will have you laughing, crying and racing through the pages only to wish for more at the end. Absolutely thrilling!” — Candace Kade, Author of The Hybrid series
“A perfect storm of adrenaline, mystery, and romance! McBee does it again and delivers a novel of epic proportions. Activated, like it’s siblings in the Calculated series, is a classic in the making! Masterful, immensely enjoyable, and undeniably a ray of light.” — Ellen McGinty, Author of Saints and Monsters
“Jo Rivers returns for another thrilling ride. Activated is full of edge-of-your-seat action, heart-stirring romance, and an intricately plotted story that will keep you glued to the pages. This series just keeps getting better.” — Becky Dean, author of Love & Other Great Expectations
PRAISE FOR SIMULATED
“Calculated was so incredible that I didn’t think it was possible for the sequel to one-up it, and yet here we are. Simulated has all the mission impossible action you could hope for, paired with a love triangle that rivals the intensity of Twilight’s. Be prepared to choose sides and hold on tight. You’re in for one wild ride.” — Chelsea Bobulski, author of The Wood
“An intricate thriller, Simulated, is reminiscent of James Bond or Jason Bourne-style action and mystery. You won’t be able to put it down!” Jessica Day George, NTWY bestselling author of Silver in the Blood and Twelve Dancing Princesses series
"Full of global intrigue and the thrilling adventure of an action movie, Simulated transported me to the lush setting of North Africa as I cheered for an utterly unique heroine fighting for good and finding her place in the world. Action-packed and captivating - I couldn’t put it down." — Becky Dean, author of Love and Other Great Expectations and Picture Perfect Boyfriend
“Brilliantly crafted, this technological thriller delivers punch after punch of heart-pounding action. The fearless heroine and two equally intriguing love interests had me flying through the pages. I’m in love with this series!” — Lorie Langdon, author of the Disney Villains Happily Never After Series
“With thrilling adventure and cunning suspense, Simulated is the most riveting sequel I’ve ever read—a masterpiece destined for the stars!” — Ellen McGinty, author of Saints and Monsters and The Water Child
“Jo Rivers is back in this stunning sequel, with beloved characters from Calculated and a team of new faces readers won’t soon forget. In Simulated, we see a different side of the ever-powerful Jo—a girl struggling to get her math gift back, while trying to understand the calculations of her heart. This book has it all—high stakes, romance, self-discovery, friendship, and adventure. A must read.” — Tamara Girardi, Author of Gridiron Girl and the Iron Valley High Series
PRAISE FOR CALCULATED
“A high-stakes YA tale of betrayal, revenge, and numbers... An enjoyable thriller with an intriguing, relatable protagonist.” — Kirkus Reviews
“An intense and wonderfully complex thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat and turning pages!” — Jessica Day George, NYT bestselling author of SILVER IN THE BLOOD and the TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES series
“Calculated is a…thrilling story that will take you from Shanghai's glittering high rises to underground prisons and plights faced by the characters who feel achingly real.” — Judy Lin, NYT bestselling author of A MAGIC STEEPED IN POISON
“Masterful. Gripping. Addictive.Calculated is all of these things and yet the words don’t feel big enough to encompass all that is contained within these pages. Don’t let another minute go by without reading this book.” — Chelsea Bobulski, author of THE WOOD and REMEMBER ME
“Twisty and original, Calculated will keep readers guessing and hoping to its pulse-pounding end!” — Lorie Langdon, best-selling author of DOON and OLIVIA TWIST
“Sleek and sophisticated, with dark secrets at every turn, Calculated is impossible to put down.” — Shannon Dittemore, author of WINTER, WHITE AND WICKED
“Calculated's cinematic imagery entices and immerses the reader in deceit and corruption so suffocatingly thick that only a tenacious fight for justice and freedom can satisfy. What a ride! Don’t miss out.” — Wayne Lo, Lucas Films Visual Arts Director
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, publications, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ACTIVATED. Copyright © 2022 by Nova McBee.
All rights reserved.
For information, contact Nova McBee, LLC
novamcbee.com
Cover design by Cherie Chapman
ISBNS 979-8-9894015-8-1 (ebook)
979-8-9894015-6-7 (paperback)
979-8-9894015-7-4 (hardcover)
First Edition: April 2022
No AI Training: Without any limitation on the author or publisher’s exclusive copyright rights, any use of this publication to train generative artificial intelligence is expressly prohibited.
For my parents, Richard and Hellen
Your faithful love and support are my greatest treasures.
“We are slowed down sound and light waves,
a walking bundle of frequencies tuned into the cosmos…”
—Albert Einstein
“Light is a dangerous thing to follow.
Before you know it,
it will drive you to the darkest corners of the earth.”
– Red
Contents
PROLOGUE
Blank Page
1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Present
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 22
23. Chapter 23
24. Chapter 24
25. Chapter 25
26. Chapter 26
27. Chapter 27
28. Chapter 28
29. Chapter 29
30. Chapter 30
31. Chapter 31
32. Chapter 32
33. Chapter 33
34. Chapter 34
35. Chapter 35
36. Chapter 36
37. Chapter 37
38. Chapter 38
39. Chapter 39
40. Chapter 40
41. Chapter 41
42. Chapter 42
43. Chapter 43
44. Chapter 44
45. Chapter 45
46. Chapter 46
47. Chapter 47
48. Chapter 48
49. Chapter 49
50. Chapter 50
51. Chapter 51
52. Chapter 52
53. Chapter 53
54. Chapter 54
55. Chapter 55
56. Chapter 56
57. Chapter 57
58. Chapter 58
59. Chapter 59
60. Chapter 60
61. Chapter 61
62. Chapter 62
63. Chapter 63
64. Chapter 64
65. Chapter 65
66. Chapter 66
67. Chapter 67
68. Chapter 68
69. Chapter 69
70. Chapter 70
71. Chapter 71
72. Chapter 72
73. Chapter 73
74. Chapter 74
75. Chapter 75
76. Chapter 76
77. Chapter 77
78. Chapter 78
79. Chapter 79
80. Chapter 80
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ACTIVATED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PROLOGUE
EU ROPEAN UNION ENERGY SUMMIT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Eighteen days after Tunisia…
THE BLACKOUTS FEEL like a sign.
It’s the first PSS assignment since my numbers returned. Maybe I’m foolish for jumping back into work so quickly after Tunisia, but an assignment to prevent darkness felt like a good place to start.
Since Tunisia, most of my time is spent in the midnight hours, searching for him—the one who turned my day into night. My sun into the moon. My sea into the stars. For Noble. Nothing is normal since I left him. Nothing will be until I find him. But even with the potent return of my mathematical gift, I still can’t crack his code in the stars.
It’s 6:32 pm in Geneva on the last night of the European Union Energy Summit. We’re in an auditorium built like a coliseum, seated with 211 people. Experts from thirty nations are gathered here in Switzerland, home to the largest power grid in Europe, to discuss the sporadic blackouts that have been hitting Europe and other parts of the world, leaving hundreds of millions without electricity.
Prodigy Stealth Solutions was invited too, discreetly of course. Agent Ramos, Ms. Taylor’s former boss at the Defense Intelligence Agency and PSS’s government overseer, invited us to be extra ears and eyes at the Summit. Ramos said he wanted a different perspective on the blackouts. So here we are. But if I’m right, this will also lead me to Noble. There is no way he doesn’t know what’s going on with these blackouts.
On paper, we’re just student observers. Ms. T and the PSS team sit beside me. We’re seated near the back row, where journalists take notes and camera crews record the Summit.
Experts aren’t sure what is causing the blackouts. Most scientists believe they’re a result of the recent geomagnetic storms caused by solar flares, which are eruptions from the sun. They aren’t normal power outages where electricity is simply cut off, but these intense surges of energy from the sun could severely damage power grids and mess with other electrical systems, which would explain why certain satellites are experiencing malfunctions and total failure. I came here with the intention of finding answers, maybe even solutions, but so far the trip is not what I had expected.
Ever since my gift returned in Tunisia, I’ve had to work double-time to pay attention. A new dimension of numbers has emerged, and now my numbers buzz with so many layers of information, it’s hard to think straight.
I always assumed if my numbers returned they’d be the same as before. I was way off. Noble wasn’t kidding when he said I’d need time to understand my new abilities. I’ve been upgraded to a new operating system without instructions. What he didn’t tell me was that my gift would crescendo like water coming to a boil on the stove. Which leads me to a question—what happens when it boils over? I’m afraid to find out.
The ability to measure sounds and frequencies started when I met Noble in the Bardo Museum in Tunis and now it increases daily. Not only do I pick up frequencies from humans, animals, electronics, vibrations—both manmade and natural—but I measure things unseen by human eyes, anything pulsing with energy around me. It takes time to identify the source of each frequency—if I can identify it all.
These unseen frequencies are hyper-visceral. They feel skin close, a whisper in my ear. I’m no stranger to paranoia—a product of the Pratt, no doubt—but everything feels like a threat. It’s a maddening tickertape running at speeds too fast to comprehend. I’m starting to feel like Double-Eight again, checking over my shoulder and raising false alarms.
Where I once had a handle on my gift, this is a whole new level of non-stop input. I’m a toddler lost in a seven-story mall and can’t find my way out—because the mall just keeps getting bigger. Which makes sitting in this room listening to experts discuss their theories about the blackouts incredibly challenging.
I shift in my seat, my mind galloping as I download 211 different people’s heights, weights, movements, mannerisms, and intentions. Next, I study the dimensions and structure of the auditorium. Finally, I process every frequency that buzzes in the room—voices, heat signatures, cell phone signals. Apart from all this input, my mind is also still trying to solve the problem at hand.
Scientists and power engineers sit at a panel on the stage. I latch onto clips of what they say. “Our major satellites and power grids must be protected if we want to avoid a global crisis that could thrust us back to the Stone Age,” an expert from the United States exaggerates.
“If the blackouts become longer or more widespread, it could be catastrophic,” agrees a female expert with a French accent. “Apart from casualties, the economic loss alone would devastate most nations. The blackouts have already cost France billions of dollars in lost wages, spoiled inventory, delayed production, and damage to our electrical grid. Not to mention the GPS failures that caused accidents all over Europe. What if GPS systems for planes fail next time? What if the power outages last for weeks? Or months? Winter is coming. What then? People will freeze in their homes.” Anxiety trembles in her voice.
I’m stumbling for answers in the dark like the rest of the world, only instead of focusing on the blackouts I’m still wrestling with what happened to my life after Tunisia.
I pinch my leg and try to focus. My mind traces the diagrams of international power grids that Agent Ramos shared with PSS, exploring different solutions—but none of it actually registers because something in this room is throwing me off.
My numbers, like algorithms, run analytics across the auditorium connecting faces and vibrations until I locate fourteen frequencies pulsing with negative numbers.
I pause. Identifying why my gift picks up on this activity is harder now. It could be any number of reasons, and without the right variables, finding a conclusion is like pulling one string out of a knotted ball of yarn. After sixteen equations and twenty-eight possibilities, I can’t pinpoint anything immediately wrong at the Summit or in the crowd, or tell whether the problem is connected to the blackouts. Could be another false alarm.
Suddenly, a different frequency steals my attention altogether. This one is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Once again, I can’t identify what it is or where it’s coming from. It’s humming softly and boomeranging between me and an unknown source. Whatever it is, it’s making me tipsy.
Ms. Taylor, the PSS Director, is sitting beside me. She listens to the various speakers intently, but numerically, her attention is on me, like she feels my unrest.
Pens, whose red hair is not in a bun on top of her head for once but flows straight down her back, is taking notes with one hand, while searching something on her phone with the other. Harrison is multi-tasking too. He’s researching every speaker invited to the Summit while he sorts every headline across the world related to the blackout. For the first time since I met Harrison, he isn’t wearing a hoodie or jeans, but dark blue slacks and a button up. His shaggy blond hair is parted and styled. It’s a version of him I’ve never seen before. Earlier I had joked that he actually looks like a prodigy now, whatever that looks like.
Felicia, who sits extra close to Harrison these days, looks so innocent in her white skirt and pink blouse, her shiny black hair dangling in a beautiful braid off her shoulder, but she’s likely hacking into the power grid database and several world leaders’ phones as we speak. Eddie, our inventor, uses a PSS program called Expose to scan everyone in the room for any ill-tech at work. Since he’s also a language expert, he’s been eavesdropping on foreign conversations since we arrived.
I shift uneasily in my seat.
Harrison moves a loose strand of his blond hair, and whispers, “You okay? You look pale.”
“Not sure yet,” I say. On one hand, I’m overjoyed my gift is back. I’m myself again and sizing up a situation is much easier. But on the other hand, if I can’t figure out what all these new frequencies and equations mean, this upgrade might break me. Tapping into people’s frequencies adds an extra layer of depth that isn’t always clear. Sometimes a person’s frequency fluctuates like a soft melody, other times it’s a clanging cymbal. With so many frequencies happening simultaneously, it’s critical to know exactly what you’re tapping into.
An expert from Finland, Dr. Juho Salonen, a 6’2” man with sandy brown hair, joins the panel on stage. Numbers flicker around him like fireflies. My gift is highlighting him, so I pay attention. Leaning over to Harrison, I whisper, “Who is he?”
